The agricultural sector possesses a few impressive plans to improve Mzansi’s farming landscape, but 2023 should be a year of action, according to Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz).
“There is so much in the implementation pipeline of South Africa’s agriculture policy this year,” he said. “The past four years have largely seen various initiatives that sought to inject confidence in the sector. These are now ripe for implementation, especially ahead of the 2024 general elections.”
Master plan brings hope
A major development in recent times was the launch of the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan, which offers the government and the private sector a new possibility to grow the sector, build competitiveness, attract more investment, and ensure inclusion.
Sihlobo is of the view that the launch of the master plan is a sign of progress. He added that the master plan offered the government and private sector a new possibility to grow the sector, build competitiveness, attract more investment, and ensure inclusion.
Plenty in the pipeline
Furthermore, the blended finance instrument, he said, will this year aim to achieve the required scale to make a positive dent in transforming the sector. The blended finance instrument launched by the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development (DALRRD), has been in effect for a couple of years and is a collaboration with the Land Bank.
There is also the “soon-to-be-launched” agricultural development and land reform agency, mentioned by President Cyril Ramaphosa in various addresses.
“In the past, these programmes seemed like a pipe dream. Now they are nearing implementation.
“There is a window of opportunity for the government to show results in these areas since they are beyond policy development and ripe for action. If implemented effectively, these programmes could boost growth in the sector, sustain employment, and possibly attract new investment.”
According to Sihlobo, during 2023 the focus should be firmly on implementation. He did, however, acknowledged that to some stakeholders it may feel like there has been little progress on all the programmes since the year started.
Implementation intent is promising
When it comes to the launch of the agricultural development and land reform agency, Sihlobo stated launching the agency is a pre-requisite for the comprehensive implementation of the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan.
“If the DALRRD fails to launch the agency sooner, the deliberations in implementing the master plan will always go back to land needs as a hindrance. Therefore, the government should unlock all these possible stoppages before advocating for a comprehensive implementation of the master plan, possibly in the second half of this year.”
Sihlobo suggested that the technical team of master plan use the remaining four months of the first half of this year to resolve outstanding matters that social partners such as labour were not comfortable signing on last year.
“These implementation steps are also vital for building trust and progress in the sector, not only between the government and existing role players in agriculture, but also other South Africans who aspire to join the sector and have followed these programmes from inception with hope for inclusion and economic opportunities.”
Government seems serious
The implementation also suggests that government is serious about its programmes, boosting confidence among stakeholders. Sihlobo added, there may be faults at the starting stages. However, this provides the sector with an opportunity to learn and improve policy and programme design along the way.
“The agricultural sector has maintained positive growth momentum in recent years, partly because it was well positioned to take advantage of favourable weather conditions. It is crucial to building on this momentum to implement the programmes we outlined above this year,” Sihlobo said.
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